XCOM fans were taken by surprise when Firaxis announced a new XCOM title just ten days before it was actually released. Titled XCOM: Chimera Squad, this follow-𝕴up focuses much more on small-scale encounters than saving the world from alien incursion.
Many were skeptical of its proposed changes, ranging from a new turn order system to the Breach mechanic. The changes Chimera Squad made are certainly controversial, but they are meant to counter issues from previous entries such as alpha-striking and alien pods. It does a great job fixing these issues, although all of the changes Chimera Squad makes certainly aren't perfect. Here are the 5 best and 5 worst changes Chimera Squad has made to the 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:XCOM formula.
10 ꩲ BEST: Action Economy
XCOM 2 had a massive issue late-game where characters got exponentially more powerful 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:thanks to abilities that could target everyone on the m🧸ap oౠr buff every teammate.
Chimera Squad does away with most of these abilities, onl🌟y rarely introducing them from new weapons or an Agent's capstone ability. Better yet, equipment no longer requires an action to use, meaning utility grenades actually serve a purpose now. Alongsℱide the 4-squad limit, these small changes make every action feel much more impactful than before.
9 WORST: Breaching 🐲 🍃
No, Breaching isn't a bad mechanic in of itself. Rather, the mechanic is so underbaked that it should either be expanded in XCOM 3 or abandoned altogether. Breach debuffs from enemies are rarely a threat while buffs can ra𓄧nge from inconsequential to game-changing, such as having every shot critically strike. Even then, it is rarely beneficial to split squads up as most ro🌱oms aren't large enough to make the separation a major tactical advantage.
This issue is made worse when characters that control the battlefield can simply reposition characters to where you need them, defeating the whole point of Breaching different entryways. The system needs more player agency and choice if Firaxis plans to incorporate it into XCOM 3.
8 🦩 BEST: Lack Of Long Recovery Times 🎶
Damaged soldiers always had to heal back at HQ in previous XCOM titles, encouraging players to have multiple squads at the ready. Thankfully, this has been almost completely removed in Chimera Squad.
Members that are knocked unconscious can have scars that must be healed over a few days but otherwise, the original healing system is removed. This makes leveling characters much faster and helps keep the game fast-paced. It wouldn't carry over to XCOM 3 veryꦿ well, but it's 🧜a nice change of pace for a spin-off title.
7 WORST: Jarring Cutscenes & Character Personalities 🐼
As a means of keeping the game cheap, all cutscenes in XCOM: Chimera Squad are comic-style stills with dialogue playing over the images. It isn't a bad idea on paper, but it doesn't jive well with XCOM 2's art style. Clean environments with detailed models is a staple of XCOM 2's art style, 🌳something that is just missing in the cutscenes.
Dialogue in these scenes also shows another issue: character personalities. One-liners and quips between Agents lack any sense of weight, since no character development occurs throughout the campaign. When characters do talk, the quality varies between memorable a♓nd well-written🐎 to downright corny and cringe-inducing.
6 BEST: Synergizing Abilities 🔯 𝐆
Combat wise, each character in Chimera Squad is expertly crafted✤. Each Agent has a unique🌜 role to fulfill that is flexible enough to allow for player expression.
When Agents start synergizing abilities together, that's where Chimera Squad truly shines. Characters like Shelter or Torque can reposition enemies and even allies around the battlefield, allowing great setups for Blueblood's Faceoff or Zephyr's Crowd Control skill. When combat is just hard enough to encourage this behavior, Chimera Squad rises above XCOM 2 at times.
5 WORST: Field Teams ღ ♎
Since Advent forces have been destroyed and Earth is now free of alien tyranny, replacing XCOM 2's satellite system with another mechanic w꧙as a needed change. What Firaxis came up with, though, is not engaging in the slightest.
Field Teams work similar to satellites, covering a region of the map and providing bonuses. These teams come in one of three types and have upgrade tiers to them, convoluting a previously si꧒mple system. Field Teams are overall easy to understand, but it needlessly adds depth to a system that was fine as-is.
4 🌊 BEST: Weapons Now Grant Unique S🌊kills
Items granting unique benefits is nothing new to video games. RPGs and Looter Shooters have been doing this for decades now, but the way XCOM: Chimera Squad handles it is genius.
Endgame🔜 weapons come with higher stats in damage as you'd expect, but now these weapons come with unique skills. For example, the Artful Fathom pistol grants Lightning Hands to i༒ts user. While this is obviously good for Blueblood, it means other pistol-wielding characters can use skills that would otherwise be unavailable to them.
3 𝕴 ♐ WORST: Encounter-Based Pacing
Every level in Chimera Squad has a set number of encounters tied to them. Small-scale missions are only one encounter while critical missions typically have three. Encounters include a Breach sequence and follow up with combat. For a game of Chimera Squad's sca💟le, this decision makes total sense but is somewhat fatiguing.
Combat encounters blur together with how frequent they are. Stealth sections in XCOM 2 and Enemy Unknown's eꦐerie opening turns helped break up combat encounters. Now, only the short-lived Breach sections offer respite in the otherwise constant action.
2 BEST:♛ Initiative ꦇ
By far the largest issue of the more recent XCOM titles is the overreliance of Alpha-Striking, a term coined by the🍸 community that revolv🐟es around dealing as much damage in a turn as possible. It felt forced since revealing pods of aliens at a turn's end gave the aliens a free turn to retaliate.
With Chimera Squad's character-based initiative system, this strategy now has more nuance to it. Players can still Alpha-Strike if they focus on killing certain enemies next in the turn queue, but this results in more critical decision making on how to prioritize certain targets. With some small tweaks, this could be one of the best changes to the XCOM formula that all future games should include.
1 💛 WORST: No 💝Permadeath
Simply put, XCOM: Chimera Squad lacks the te🍃nsion of previous titles thanks to the🉐 lack of permadeath. If a squadmate dies in a mission, players are sent back to a checkpoint instead of living with the consequences.
Permadeath is as core to the XCOM experience as percentage hits are. This series holds no punches, forcing players to either reload from a previous point or live with the grave ramifications of their actions. Character deaths allowed for memorable stories to unfold in XCOM's intricate sandbox, helping facilitate the game's tone and brutality. With permadeath gone, it of the original UFO: Enemy Unknown that MicroProse created in 1994.